post for 29 April 2003

House of the First Stone/Akodo Rokuro vs. Suspended Terrain

Do House of the First Stone or Akodo Rokuro allow people to go home from an opponent's Suspended Terrain without bowing? It states to negate the bowing, not to prevent it. I guess what I'm asking is, are the words 'prevent' and 'negate' synonymous?

They are synonymous. Neither of these cards will stop the bowing from Suspended Terrain.

question for jeff

Are you able to name Ratling as a clan for the Alliance event?

Yes. You may name any faction listed in pages 34-35 of the rulebook.

Another question for Jeff

If a personality is bowed, does it still contribute chi to the army under the terrain "Tsudao's Challenge"?

No.

The rulebook says that no cards contribute to the total Force of a unit when the Personality is bowed. Tsudao's Challenge says they contribute their Chi instead of their Force. Well, if they're not contributing at all, it doesn't matter what stat they would have been adding. The unit's total will still be 0.

Tsuburu no Oni

When Tsuburu no Oni enters play, I must destray a personality, can I destroy a Bowed personality?

Yes. This very example is listed on page 46.

Bringing the Oni into play is not an action. Neither is the destruction. It is only your own actions that you cannot target at your own bowed Personalities.

Questions about Otomo Ambassadors

Hi, a couple questions about Otomo Ambassadors.

Can I give control of one of my fortification, let's say, Empty Crevasse or Rebuilt Temple to my opponent upon playing Otomo Ambassadors ?

As long as it produces Gold, yes.

If yes, does it stay attached to my province?

Yes.

Let's say both my opponent and I have a Shrine to Daikoku in play. Can I give him control of my Shrine when paying for the Otomo Ambassador?

No, because he cannot control more than one.

Seductive Kansen rulz question

Ok, I looked at the archive first, and I dinna find anything. So, here is my question, what happens when you attach a spell to this personality.

From the FAQ at http://www.legendofthefiverings.com/ccg/faq.html

] Q: How, exactly, does Seductive Kansen work? ] ] A: You flip a card and check its focus value. If it's 3 or less, ] nothing happens. If it's 4 or more, kill the Shugenja if he's ] Shadowlands, or permanently make him Shadowlands if he isn't.

Shadow Dragon question

Can I use the Shadow Dragon's reaction on my own personalities as they are bowed?

No. It targets the Personality "when" she is bowed. Just like a Reaction that's played at the start of a Phase is still considered to happen during that Phase, a Reaction played "when" a card bows sees the card as already bowed.

I'd say no as well. Everywhere I've seen where the intend was to do something before something occured the word "before" has been explicitly used. The default is after.

There is no default. Every Reaction uses some kind of wording. There should be no need to guess whether it happens before, during, or after the trigger.

Rules question:oracle of thunder exp

Can the oracle of thunder only cancel action cards (ie red bordered cards) or can it cancel any card with a action on.

Let's read the Oracle: "Bow Oracle of Thunder and pay 1 Gold to cancel an Action card played when there is already at least one copy of that card in its player's discard pile."

"An Action card" means red-bordered cards only (Actions and Kihos).

up regarding if it could be used to cancel a spell, eg a torrential rain if there is already one in play

"already one in play" has nothing to do with the Oracle. The duplicate copy needs to be in the player's discard pile, not in play. [card text]

Corruption's Price vs Balance in Nothingness

I play Corruption's Price and target a bowed (non-Shadowlands) Personality. My opponent plays Balance in Nothingness. Does that cancel the destruction of the corrupt holding as well?

Yes. Balance In Nothingness cancels Corruption's Price at the targeting step [card text], before it has produced any effects.

So what exactly is the rule or trigger for the straightening effect without the "key word" of declared in the action text?

Precedent. Consistency. You cannot have a duel without a challenge, so you cannot have an attack without a decleration of attack.

Shame, TWT and ITOW

No, I'm not Leon in disguise :)

In Time of War is in play. I gain 12 honour, which is capped at 5. I then Shame myself, which doesn't cause me to lose any family honour because I'm still capped at 5. Can I TWT the honour loss across to my opponent, despite the fact that I haven't actually lost any honour?

Yes. You have received a 7-point Honor loss

Shame, TWT and ITOW

If I understand correctly, you can, because you do actually gain and lose the honour.

In Time of War only caps you at the end of your turn. In other words, you can gain 12, but at the end of your turn you go back to the five. So, you can gain 12 and lose 7 with no problem.

You are not reduced to the maximum only at the end of the turn. That is not what the card says. Your total Family Honor cannot rise past the maximum at any time during the turn.

What happens at the end of the turn is that your true Family Honor, notwithstanding the maximum, is brought down to the maximum for good if your true Honor exceeds it.

I can't think of a clear way to explain this other than a detailed example.

Let's say you start a turn with 10 honor. In Time of War is in effect, so your maximum Family Honor all turn long is 15.

During that turn, you win three For the Empire duels. Each gives you 3 Honor, so your Family Honor would be 10 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 19. But that's above 15, so you stop adding after 15. KEY POINT: you don't actually reduce or negate any of the 3-pt gains. The cap is only on your TOTAL. All of your gains and losses still happen in the math before the maximum value is appied. (By the way, this is exactly the way Force and Chi min/max values work, too.)

If you were to lose 2 Honor at this point, your total would still be 15: 10 + 3 + 3 + 3 - 2, capped down to 15. That is why the 2-point loss can be Wind's Truthed to another player, even though it would not reduce your own Honor total if you were to suffer it.

If the maximum of 15 were to disappear mid-turn, after those duels, your Family Honor would change to 19 immediately because you'd still be adding 10 + 3 + 3 + 3 but you wouldn't stop adding after 15 anymore.

Now...someone once pointed out that the cap increases at the start of each turn, but honor gains are permanent, so those three +3s should still be there, and when the cap changes from 15 to 20 next turn, they will show up again (10 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 19, which is below 20). The ruling on In Time of War that everyone is confused about was made so that this does not happen. The In Time of War ruling says this: at the end of the turn, your Family Honor is set to a firm 15, not a "15 with the cap, but 19 behind the scenes".

Shame, TWT and ITOW

So, the follow-up question is as follows:

In Time of War is in play. I start my turn at 3 honour, running Shiba Halls. I play Lies, Lies, Lies to raise my honour to 7. I am allowed to TWT this 4-point change to my opponent, even though my FH was raised to a new number (rather than me gaining X honour explicitly), according to the archives.

Yes, because it is a normal gain.

Iaijutsu

A shadowland personality can refuse a Iaijutsu duel? if yes, what happens to the personality?

An Iaijutsu Duel cannot be refused.

Iaijutsu Challenge can be. The challenged Personality would be dishonored. The challenged Personality's controller would lose 7 Honor unless he or she is playing a Shadowlands STRONGHOLD that cannot lose Honor.

Iaijutsu Challenge

Can you challenge your own personalities with Iaijutsu Challenge?

No. [GE pp. 61, 70] Any challenge must be from one of your Personalities to a Personality controlled by someone else, without explicit wording to the contrary (like Iaijutsu Duel). Two Personalities controlled by the same player may never become involved in a duel with one another.

kolat servant

Just a quick one: does the kolat servant have the kolat trait? (for purpose of playing kage sensei in Ninja)

The Kolat Servant is a Kolat card by the Keyword Rule. [GE p. 33] Yes.

Rules Question - Be Prepared to Dig Two Graves

I have a rules question on Be Prepared To Dig Two Graves (I searched the acc. rulings and didn't find the answer). Do your personalities gain the bonuses when opposing ANY card with the title that was targeted with it originally?

No. It says "the Personality", not "all copies of the Personality". [card text]

Rules question; Kisada's Shrine vs. Asahina's Blessing

What are the results when a personality on whom Asahina's Blessing has been cast dies, and his controller wishes to use Kisada's Shrine to return him to play?

Asahina's Blessing moves him onto its caster's deck first, then the Kisada's Shrine's controller can react, which will take the Personality off the deck and put it into play.

Courtier

What´s the advantage of a courtier?

You get to use cards that require bowing or controlling Courtiers to play.

Ratling Question

I'm pretty much a staunch Lion player, so I've not had any experience with other clans. Especially the Rats.

My question is, can Ratling personalities be brought out for two less gold? If you pay full, do you gain their personal honor?

Yes and yes. [GE p. 2, also pp. 29, 35]

I apologize if this is a redundant question. I've gotten mixed answers when I posed the question locally.

That's because you couldn't prior to Gold Edition. "Ratling" is now a clan alignment trait, though, with all the benefits that entails.